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This listing contains work(s) of Victor Hugo available for reading. Click on a book title's link below to select a book to read online.
[Biography of Victor Hugo] Links to Categories below: [Fiction/Novel] [Non-fiction] [Poem] [Short Story]
Titles in Fiction/Novel Category Top
Titles in Short Story Category TopTitles in Non-fiction Category TopTitles in Poem Category Top- After The Coup D'etat from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Angel Or Demon from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Apostrophe To Nature from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Autumnal Simile, An
- Baby's Seaside Grave from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres'
- Battle Of The Norsemen And The Gaels from 'Ballades - 1823-28'
- Beacon In The Storm, The from 'Les Voix Interieures. 1840'
- Beggar's Quatrain, The
- Beloved Name (an ode)
- Blinded Bourbons, The from 'Les Voix Interieures. 1840'
- Boaz Asleep from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- Boy On The Barricade, The from 'L'Annee Terrible'
- Boy-King's Prayer, The from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- Cain from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- Carrier Pigeon, The from 'L'Annee Terrible'
- Charity
- Childhood from 'Les Contemplations. 1830-56'
- Children Of The Poor, The from 'L'Art d'Etre Grand-Pere'
- Come When I Sleep from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres'
- Cornflowers from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Cow, The from 'Les Voix Interieures. 1840'
- Cromwell And The Crown from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Cup On The Battle-Field, The from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- Cymbaleer's Bride, The from 'Ballades - 1823-28'
- Danube In Wrath, The from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Death, In Life from 'Les Contemplations. 1830-56'
- Degenerate Gallants, The from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Despatch Of The Doom, The from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Dictated Before The Rhone Glacier from 'Les Feuilles D'automne - 1831'
- Djinns, The from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Don Rodrigo from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Dying Child To Its Mother, The from 'Les Contemplations. 1830-56'
- Eaglet Mourned, The from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Early Love Revisited from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres'
- Eighteenth Century, The from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres. 1840'
- Emperor's Return, The from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Envy And Avarice
- Epic Of The Lion, The from 'L'Art d'Etre Grand-Pere'
- Epitaph from 'Les Contemplations. 1830-56'
- Eruption Of Vesuvius, The from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Esmeralda In Prison
- Eviradnus from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- Exile's Desire, The from 'Les Quatre Vents De L'esprit'
- Expectation from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Fact Or Fable? from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Father's Curse, The from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Favorite Sultana, The from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Fay And The Peri, The from 'Ballades - 1823-28'
- Feast Of Freedom (an ode), The
- First Black Flag, The from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- First Love from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Fleeting Glimpse Of A Village, A
- Freedom And The World
- Gastibelza from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres'
- Genius (an ode)
- Giant In Glee, The from 'Ballades - 1823-28'
- Girl Of Otaheite (an ode), The
- Grandmother, The from 'Ballades - 1823-28'
- Greek Boy, The from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Guitar Song from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres'
- Have You Nothing To Say For Yourself? from 'Les Contemplations. 1830-56'
- Holyrood Palace. from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres. 1840'
- How Butterflies Are Born from 'Les Contemplations. 1830-56'
- How Good Are The Poor from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- Humble Home, The from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres. 1840'
- I Am Content from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- Imperial Revels from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Indignation! from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Infantile Influence from 'Les Feuilles D'automne - 1831'
- Inscription For A Crucifix from 'Les Contemplations. 1830-56'
- Insult Not The Fallen from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Invocation from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Jersey from 'Les Quatre Vents De L'esprit'
- King Canute from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- King Louis XVII (an ode)
- Lament, A from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Land Of Fable, The from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Lesson Of The Patriot Dead, The from 'L'Annee Terrible'
- Lord Rochester's Song
- Lost Battle, The from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Love For Winged Things, A from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres'
- Love Of The Woodland from 'Les Chansons des Rues et des Bois'
- Love's Treacherous Pool from 'Les Voix Interieures. 1840'
- Lover's Sacrifice, The from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Lover's Song
- Lover's Wish, The from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Lovers' Colloquy, The from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Madelaine from 'Ballades - 1823-28'
- Marble Faun, The from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres'
- Marriage And Feasts from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Mazeppa from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Mentana from 'La Voix De Guernesey'
- Milton's Appeal To Cromwell from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Moonlight On The Bosphorus from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- More Strong Than Time from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Morning from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Morning Of Life (an ode), The
- Morrow Of Grandeur, The from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Moses On The Nile
- Mothers from 'Les Voix Interieures. 1840'
- Mourning from 'L'Annee Terrible'
- My Happiest Dream from 'Les Quatre Vents De L'esprit'
- My Napoleon from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- My Thoughts Of Ye from 'Les Voix Interieures. 1840'
- Napoleon "The Little." from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Nero's Incendiary Song (an ode)
- No Assassination from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Noormahal The Fair from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Obdurate Beauty, The from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Ocean's Song, The from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Oh, Why Not Be Happy?
- Old And The Young Bridegroom, The from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Old Man's Love, The from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Old Ocean from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Old-Time Lay, An from 'Les Quatre Vents De L'esprit'
- On A Flemish Window-Pane from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres. 1840'
- On Hearing The Princess Royal Sing from 'Les Quatre Vents De L'esprit'
- Outside The Ball-Room from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Pasha And The Dervish, The from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Paternal Love from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Patience Of The People, The from 'Les Feuilles D'automne - 1831'
- Patria from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Pirates' Song from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Pity Of The Angels, The
- Poet To His Wife, The from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Poet's Love For Liveliness, The from 'Les Feuilles D'automne - 1831'
- Poet's Simple Faith, The from 'Les Contemplations. 1830-56'
- Poland from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Pool And The Soul, The from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres. 1840'
- Poor Little Children from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Portrait Of A Child (an ode), The
- Prayer For France from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Preceptor, The from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres. 1840'
- Prelude To "The Songs Of Twilight" from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Queen Five Summers Old, A from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- Quiet Rural Church, The
- Refugee's Haven, The from 'Les Quatre Vents De L'esprit'
- Regret (an ode)
- Retreat From Moscow, The from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Roll Of The De Silva Race, The from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Rose And The Grave, The from 'Les Voix Interieures. 1840'
- Roses And Butterflies from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Sacking Of The City, The from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Satire On The Earth from 'Les Contemplations. 1830-56'
- Scourge Of Heaven., The from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Sea-Adventurers' Song from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- Seaman's Song, The from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Serenade
- Shooting Stars from 'Les Chansons des Rues et des Bois'
- Simile, A from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Son In Old Age, The from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- Song Of Love from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Song Of The German Lanzknecht from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- Soudan, The Sphinxes, The Cup, The Lamp, The from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- Sower, The
- Spanish Lady's Love, The from 'Dramatic Pieces'
- St. John from 'Les Contemplations. 1830-56'
- Still Be A Child from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres. 1840'
- Storm Simile, A
- Sunset from 'Les Feuilles D'automne - 1831'
- Sweet Charmer from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Sweet Memory Of Love from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres'
- Sweet Sister
- Swiss Mercenaries, The from 'La Legende des Siecles'
- Then, Most, I Smile from 'Les Quatre Vents De L'esprit'
- Three Glorious Days, The from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- To A Sick Child During The Siege Of Paris from 'L'Annee Terrible'
- To Albert Duerer from 'Les Voix Interieures. 1840'
- To Canaris, The Greek Patriot from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- To Cruel Ocean
- To His Muse from 'Les Voix Interieures. 1840'
- To His Orphan Grandchildren from 'L'Annee Terrible'
- To Little Jeanne from 'L'Annee Terrible'
- To Some Birds Flown Away from 'Les Voix Interieures. 1840'
- To The Cannon "Victor Hugo." from 'L'Annee Terrible'
- To The Napoleon Column.
- Toys And Tragedy from 'L'Annee Terrible'
- Tribute To The Vanquished from 'Les Chants Du Crepuscule. 1849'
- Trumpets Of The Mind, The from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Turkish Captive, The from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Universal Prayer, The from 'Les Feuilles D'automne - 1831'
- Universal Republic, The from 'Les Chatiments. 1853'
- Vale To You, To Me The Heights., The from 'Les Contemplations. 1830-56'
- Veil, The from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
- Watching Angel, The from 'Les Feuilles D'automne - 1831'
- Ye Mariners Who Spread Your Sails from 'Les Rayons Et Les Ombres. 1840'
- Zara, The Bather from 'Les Orientales. 1829'
Biography of Victor Hugo [Top]
Victor-Marie Hugo (2/26/1802 - 5/22/1885), son of an officer in Napoleon's army, was born at Besancon on February 26, 1802. He spent a roving and unsettled childhood, for wherever the father was sent the mother and children followed. The first three years of his life were spent in Elba, where he learnt to speak the Italian dialect spoken in the island in addition to his mother tongue. Then for three years the family was in Paris and Victor got a little education in a small school. But in 1805 the father was appointed to a post in the army of Naples, and in the autumn of 1807 his wife and children joined him at Avellino. Two years later General Hugo was invited by Joseph Bonaparte to fill an important position in the kingdom of Spain, and, desirous that his sons should receive a good education, he sent his family to Paris, where his wife chose for their home the house in the Rue des Feuillantines which has been so charmingly described by the poet in the lines _Ce qui se passait aux Feuillantines_. There he learnt much from an old soldier, General Lahorie, who, obnoxious to Napoleon for the share he had taken in Moreau's plot, lived secretly in the house, and from an old priest named Lariviere, who came every day to teach the three brothers. There too he played in the garden with the little Adele Foucher, who afterwards became his wife. But this quiet home life did not last long. In 1811 Madame Hugo set off to join her husband at Madrid, and the boys went with her. At Madrid they were sent to a school kept by Priests where Victor was not very happy, and from which he got small profit. Next year the whole family returned to Paris, and in 1815, at the age of thirteen, he was definitely sent to a boarding-school to prepare for the Ecole Polytechnique. But his was a precocious genius, and he devoted himself, even at school, to verse-writing with greater ardour than to study. He wrote in early youth more than one poem for a prize competition, composed a romance which some years later he elaborated into the story _Bug-Jargal_, and in 1820, when only eighteen, joined his two brothers, Abel and Eugene, in publishing a literary journal called _Le Conservateur Litteraire_. About the same time he became engaged to Adele Foucher, and wrote for her the romance of _Han d'Islande_, which, however, was not published till later. In 1822 he and Adele were married, and in the same year he published his first volume of _Odes_. He was now fully launched on a literary career, and for twenty years or more the story of his life is mainly the story of his literary output. In 1827 he published his drama of _Cromwell_, the preface to which, with its note of defiance to literary convention, caused him to be definitely accepted as the head of the Romantic School of poetry. _Les Orientales_, _Le dernier jour d'un condamne_, _Marion de Lorme_, and _Hernani_ followed in quick succession. The revolution of 1830 disturbed for a moment his literary activity, but as soon as things were quiet again he shut himself in his study with a bottle of ink, a pen, and an immense pile of paper. For six weeks he was never seen, except at dinner-time, and the result was _Notre-Dame de Paris_. During the next ten years four volumes of poetry and four dramas were published; in 1841 came his election to the Academy, and in 1843 he published _Les Burgraves_, a drama which was less successful than his former plays, and which marks the close of his career as a dramatist. In the same year there came to him the greatest sorrow of his life. His daughter Leopoldine, to whom he was deeply attached, was drowned with her husband during a pleasure excursion on the Seine only a few months after their marriage.
In 1845 Hugo began to take an active part in politics. Son of a Vendean mother, he had been in early life a fervent royalist, and even in 1830 he could write of the fallen royal family with respectful sympathy. Yet by that time his democratic leanings had declared themselves, and he accepted the constitutional monarchy of Louis Philippe only as a step towards a republic, for which he considered France was not yet ripe. In 1845 the king made him a peer of France, but this did not prevent him from throwing himself with all the ardour of his nature into the revolution of 1848. Divining the ambition of Louis Napoleon, he resisted his growing power, and when the Second Empire was established the poet was among the first who were exiled from France. He took refuge first in Jersey, and afterwards in Guernsey, where he lived in a house near the coast, from the upper balcony of which the cliffs of Normandy could sometimes be discerned. Thence he launched against the usurper a bitter prose satire, _Napoleon le Petit_, and a still bitterer satire in verse, _Les Chatiments_, and there he wrote two of his greatest novels, _Les Travailleurs de la Mer_ and _Les Miserables_, two of his finest volumes of poetry, _Les Contemplations_, the greater part of the first series of _La Legende des Siecles_, and the two remarkable religious poems, _Dieu_ and _La Fin de Satan_. He returned to France on the fall of Napoleon in 1870, to be for fifteen years the idol of the people, who regarded him as the incarnation of the spirit of liberty. Several volumes of poetry were issued during those fifteen years, notably _L'Annee Terrible_, _Les Quatre Vents de l'Esprit_, and a second series of _La Legende des Siecles_, none perhaps equal as a whole to the best of his earlier volumes, but all, especially the second-named, abounding in beautiful and striking poetry. He died in 1885, and was buried in a manner befitting one who had filled Europe with his fame, and had been for so many years the 'stormy voice of France.' [ Top] See book titles of this author: [ Fiction/Novel] [ Non-fiction] [ Poem] [ Short Story]
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